First they say 97 losses but then say if Sale, Eaton and Abreu have big years they could hang around for a wild card spot. I guess SI is covering all their bases. Well I for one say those 3 will have big years and the Sox will be hanging around for a wild card spot.

__________________Coming up to bat for our White Sox is the Mighty Mite, Nelson Fox.

First they say 97 losses but then say if Sale, Eaton and Abreu have big years they could hang around for a wild card spot. I guess SI is covering all their bases. Well I for one say those 3 will have big years and the Sox will be hanging around for a wild card spot.

SI thinks those guys are going to make a possible 27 game swing?!? It's going to take at least 90 wins to make the playoffs.

Meh - I figure we'll be slightly better than last year, and I guess technically 97 losses would fit into that criteria (although i envision us around 90 or so, give or take).

Also, who is Freddie Paulino!?

The SI pitching rundown was pretty lazy. First there was the obvious mistake of calling Felipe Paulino "Freddie". Then he makes a bunch of generalized comments with nothing to back up what he is saying. For example, he opines that "Erik Johnson shows promise but isn't ready to make an impact". Ooookay...based on what? I thought Jonah Keri's rundown had more thought and substance than this SI piece. I have no problem if a writer has a negative or positive opinion on our pitching staff but at least back up what you are saying rather than making general comments.

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The very existence of flamethrowers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, "You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done." -George Carlin

This is still a guy who has never played a full 162-game MLB season and is coming from a league that's, at best, AA-equivalent. There is going to be a sharp learning curve for Abreu, maybe in a year or two we can talk about 30 HR production being disappointing for him (hopefully that is the case), but in his first pro season in the Majors, that would be a real nice year for him.

Talk about covering all bases: Abreu could hit 30 dingers or be a $68M bust, according to SI. Did they run a supercomputer model to derive that?

That does sound really stupid, doesn't it? I guess what it comes down to is Abreu is the wild card in this season of White Sox baseball. If he's good, maybe the team can hang around in the AL Central race. If he stinks, the Sox are in trouble.

I don't know that anyone has been able to comment intelligently on what the expectations for Abreu should be. He's an unknown. It's anybody's guess what he'll do this year.

McGwire is so skinny in that picture. I guess he didn't get his teenaged growth spurt until he was in his twenties.....

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‎This just in from the newswires: The Anti-Trust Division of the US Department of Justice has announced that whenever Sale take The Bump, it is unfair competition in violation of various federal and state laws. However, he is not being prosecuted because it is so ****in awesome to watch him do his craft.

This is still a guy who has never played a full 162-game MLB season and is coming from a league that's, at best, AA-equivalent. There is going to be a sharp learning curve for Abreu, maybe in a year or two we can talk about 30 HR production being disappointing for him (hopefully that is the case), but in his first pro season in the Majors, that would be a real nice year for him.

I would be thrilled if he hit 30 this season, I just don't think that's the ceiling. I know it's his first year, but he's 27 this season. There is definitely a drop in star power when you look at the age 25+ guys on that list vs the younger guys.